Events, pictures, and thoughts from Elder and Sister Lenhard while serving for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Wisconsin, Milwaukee mission...

Thursday, December 11, 2014

032 Tuesday to Tuesday (Nov. 26-Dec. 2, 2014)

What a wonderful time of year. I love
Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love the lights, the decorated trees, the bells,
the Christmas programs and celebrations at Church, the Spirit that comes with
the Season. I love Nativities and wish I had some from home (but I have my
Spanish one that I’m happy with this year), the candy, foods, and new recipes
people are willing to make and share. I wonder if those who lived at the time
of the birth of Christ had any true idea of what was happening. What did those
shepherds feel when the Angels came to them singing of Jesus Christ’s birth?
What were Joseph and Mary thinking when they saw their baby for the first time?
I cannot even imagine the feelings of the Spirit that were present in the
stable. This is such a precious time of the year. It’s only appropriate that
Thanksgiving comes first to give us time to reflect on our blessings. Christmas
then is like the icing on the cake. It brings our focus back to what we should
be truly thankful for – the Son of God who would come and bring us all the
blessings of the Atonement. I am so grateful for our blessings for we have been
truly blessed.

On Wednesday, we spent a fairly slow day. We
went to the gym, visited Denise (which wasn’t very successful as the Social
Worker showed up right after we got there). Timmy, who up until this time, was
sleeping soundly – and I do mean soundly. He has some asthma and was having a
breathing treatment while he was sleeping. Denise took off the mask and
proceeded to wake him up. After that, between the social worker and Timmy there
was no lesson.

Thanksgiving Day was a treat. We didn’t have
Pathway because of the holiday, so we felt like we were free birds. We took off
for the Milwaukee Rescue Mission to see if we could help for the day. Nope,
they already had 100 volunteers and needed no more. We then went to the
Salvation Army, and they didn’t serve meals at the place where we went. Since
we were not wanted to help anyone, we headed to the Potawatami casino for
dinner. After having searched for a good buffet to eat, this place had the best
ratings. We had planned on taking a new member of our Ward to dinner, but at
the last minute, he was blessed to be asked by his sister to dinner. The food
was delicious, and we didn’t have to wait to be served. The only problem we had
was the cigarette smoke we had to walk through to get to the dining area. As
soon as we walked in, we were reminded of Vegas many years ago when we took Amy
to Ricks.

As usual, we found ourselves sitting next to a
couple who were more than willing to talk with us. They were very interesting.
The man has a brother living in Ogden. When we mentioned that we were
missionaries and we helped people with family history work, he said his brother
was into that, so we could only surmise that the brother may have been a member
of the Church. He was very careful not to talk about anything that could lead
to the Church, and he appeared quite determined to make sure we knew he
wouldn’t be interested. However, we had an enjoyable time listening to his
stories about his ggrandfather who did mysterious things.

Friday found us doing the grocery run for a
Church member, we had an appointment with Denise, and we ran by the Mission
Office. Otherwise, we spent the time making calls and working on some things we
needed to do for the weekend.

Saturday, we headed off to Fond du Lac with
another Missionary Couple to visit the Kristmas Kringle Shop. When Mallory
lived in Indiana, we got to go with her and Brad to a Christmas shop in an
Amish town. Oh, did I love that place. However, I do believe this one had it
beat. For one thing, it was bigger and brighter. Everywhere you looked there
was a tree with a different kind of ornaments. It appeared that they had ornaments
from anyone in the world who could make them. I was entranced and could have
stayed all day. However, we did eventually have to leave. We only bought a
little glass Christmas tree with twinkling lights. I patted myself on the back
for not getting something else that I now wish I had gotten. Maybe next
year!!!!!

Some of the types of ornaments they carry. Could have stayed there all day.

When we got home, we had to put together a
powerpoint on Family History for one of the Wards we have been working with over
the past couple of months.

On Sunday, we were able to visit the West Allis
Ward for all the meetings there. Our presentation was during the last hour. It
was made in conjunction with the High Priest Group Leader who is over Family
History work in the Ward. While we were there, we made contact with the
High Priest Group Leader in another Church group who meets in the same
building.There are actually three Wards
that meet in this building every Sunday. Their meetings are staggered, and
there is some overlap. We will be setting up meetings with this new group
leader soon.

Monday saw us going to the gym. Then it was off
to Menomonee to exchange the boots I had bought a couple of weeks ago. One of
the hooks had come off after one wear. They were very nice and sent me back to
find a pair to exchange. There was another lady there looking at boots. I had
to have a size 9, and there were none available in black. I didn’t want the
brown ones, and I was not looking forward to having to look through all the
stock for another boot style. The other lady there had a box in her hand that looked
like it held the boots I was looking for and after surreptiously looking at the box, I
realized she had the 9. I told Elder Lenhard if I couldn’t find the black in a
9, we’d have to look further down the aisle and headed that way, passing her as
I went. I heard Elder Lenhard asking her if she had the shoe we were looking
for because she was putting it back. We grabbed it and thanked her profusely.
She said she was taking another pair, but if she didn’t like them, she may be
sorry she was giving up the one we were getting.The gist of the story is that I got what I
wanted and was a happy old lady.

Tuesday was really busy. We went to Denise’s
thinking we were going to the library to help her set up a Family Search
account. She doesn’t have wifi in her apartment, and the library was the
closest place to get it. When we got to her place, she wasn’t there. She had
sent a text that I hadn’t seen telling us she was at a place down the road
cashing a check. By the time we got to her and to the library, we found out the
library wasn’t open until later. We went back to her place, and I got to help
her with her math (fractions) for an hour and a half, then we read Scriptures
for an hour, and talked about genealogy. We felt like it was a very successful
day.

Did all of you receive a letter from the First
Presidency? An historic moment – and we were part of it.

We have had an excellent week. Some down time,
but still lots going on. We have been chilled this week, but if the wind
wouldn’t blow, it would really be comfortable.

Our Scripture for the upcoming month will be 2
Nephi 25:26 –

And
we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of
Christ, and we write
according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may
look fora
remission of their sins.

This is the Lord Jesus Christ’s Church. All
that we do is for him. He is our Savior and Redeemer. If we can stay on the
path back to him, we can expect potholes in the way, cracks in the cement, and
adventures on the side that would have us tarry and play. But what a glorious
reward it will be when we can make it to the end of our journey and be together
with our families.

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About Us

Elder Craig and Sister Linda Lenhard are most recently from Layton, Utah, and are currently serving for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as member support missionaries in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Craig was born in Flagstaff, Arizona and grew up in Huntsville, Alabama, and Linda comes from the back hills of Virginia. The Lenhards were converted to the church soon after their marriage and have been faithful members ever since. They lived and raised their five children in Columbus, GA for 25+ years before relocating to Utah to prepare for their mission. They have been serving since April 14, 2014, and are excited to share their testimonies and knowledge of the gospel to the people of Wisconsin!